Tempting the taste buds - Indian and International cuisine for people who love food and cooking!!

June 17, 2008

Lucchi (Bengali fried bread) and an award!

Poori-masala is one of the most welcomed food combo in our house. Infact it is JM's one of the favourite foods (and he doesnt have that many favourites!). But we make them at home less often. That actually make them all the more special. After coming to US, I stuck to just the basic Indian recipes like rice and a curry or something. But later on I started making most of our Indian specialities. But only recently did I REALLY know that JM loved this combo A LOT!! This time I decided to try out Lucchis which I came across in a cookbook. Lucchis are basically pooris with semolina added to them, which actually gives them a slight resemblance to baturas. The semolina also helps to hold the puffed up shape of the pooris longer than the regular pooris would. The lucchis also have fennel added to them for fragrance. And they taste phenomenal! It would go well with any curry, we had it with some beef curry and onion salad. Enjoy!

Divide the dough into eight balls, flatten slightly and then roll them out in the shape of disks (4-5" diameter).

Heat the oil in a wok/kadai until very hot.

Fry the breads one at a time, flicking the hot oil over the top so that it puffs up.

Turn and cook on the other side until golden brown.

Drain on paper towels.

Serve hot with Indian curries.

Source: Authentic recipes from India by Brinder Narula.

Tips:

I made 1 1/2 recipe to get 12 lucchis.

While frying the pooris, push down the bread under the oil so that it will easily puff up.

Once again, I have an award to cherish and share! Neha of Tasty recipes passed me the Nice Matters award. Thank you so much Neha, I am happy to know that I am in the thoughts of a few blogger friends. It feels great to be appreciated, and thanks for being nice and for making my day!! :-)

"Nice Matters Award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world.”

Thanks Skribles and Sukanya! Comeover Skribles, I'll make you some! Sukanya, my husband was mentioning that it tastes like batura! But I am somewhat a poor judge of those things and i trust his palate! ;-)

Thanks Srilekha, Skribles, EC and Trupti!

Thanks Vani, EC and Trupti

Thanks Trupti and Sireesha

Thanks Trupti and Sireesha!

Thanks Su and Ramya

Thanks Ramya

Thanks Ivy!

Humble beginnings!

I became a fan of cooking blogs when I came to the US because I suddenly found myself to be a home-maker with little knowledge of cooking and a lot of free time on my hands. After a couple of years and experimenting with a lot of food, I started thinking about my own blog!!! But doubting my writing skills, I have been pushing it back for some time. But with a bit of encouragement from one of my close friends and a boosting jolt from my husband, I decided not to wait any further. I hope that everybody will enjoy going through and trying out the recipes.

When I first started depending on the Internet for my cooking, I came across many wonderful recipe sites and cooking blogs!! One thing I realised is that since we are being offered a lot of different versions of a single recipe on the net, we will be more inclined to try out the recipes if we know that the recipe has passed somebody else's cooking test ! A picture of the dish will definitely go a long way to aid our decision. My objective with the blog is to post some of my original recipes along with the recipes from the net that I have chosen after trying out a few of the choices available. In the case of recipes taken from the other sites or books, the actual source will be posted along with the recipe, with the tips that I found to be useful. I sincerely hope that my blog will be a further incentive for everybody to experiment with the already popular dishes ! Please post your comments so that I can improve and evolve the blog into something which will help others who need a bit of inspiration for their cooking.